Mr Mom Complex
by Neo SHINIGAMI
Summary: [LxLight] Misa needs a babysitter for her cousins! Who else can she turn to but Light? But, of course, he will have to take care of the kids with the help of his one true love, L, whom he is still handcuffed to! [RATING MAY CHANGE WITH FUTURE CHAPTERS]
1. Chapter 1

Mr. Mom Complex // Chapter 1

Series: Death Note

Pairing: Raito(Light)/L

Status: WIP

Content: m/m (boys love), slight crack humour (?) T

Takes place sometime that L and Light were handcuffed together. 3

Disclaimer: Death Note and it's characters are (c) Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The kids are all my doing tho.. ;

Mr. Mom Complex

Light rolled over in the bed; being sure not to disturb the unwanted company that lie beside him. Trying to think over the events of that day, he closed his eyes, eyebrows knotting together.

'How did it come to this?', he thought.

His mind rewinded back to where it all had started.

Misa, his "girlfriend" of convience had bounced her way into the main control room as she usually did. Stopping at the chair Light was dilegently working in, a big smile on her face.

"What is it, Misa?" Light asked, not even bothering to look up at her from a pile of

papers.

"Goo-gah!!" A high-pitched voice broke through the slient sound of working.

L, the great detective seated next to him, quickly turned to look over, as well as Light. They found that Misa was holding something. At first glance, it appeared to be a small bundle of blankets with equally little limbs sticking out of the folds.

"Misa?" Light asked.

Misa kept her smile and turned the bundle over to face them. It was...

"A baby?!" Light jumped up out of his seat, pulling the other boy along because of the chain that connected them.

"...!" L's eyes grew wider as he looked from Misa, to the baby, to Light. "Yagami-kun...?"

"...? ..What?! Don't look at me!" Light lost his cool when he realized what L must have been thinking.

"Huh?" Misa looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

L was about to explain, but Light swiftly covered his mouth with his hand.

"N-nothing, nevermind, Misa.. Just.. Who's baby is that?" Trying to regain his composure, a vein visible on his forehead.

"Oh!" Misa hugged the small child to her chest. "This is my 'long-lost' cousin, Romi! My aunt came to visit this weekend and brought my little cousins with her. I had no idea she had had children! Isn't he so cuuute?!" Hearts floated above her as she spoke. Then, her eyes widened into stary orbs. "I want a baby as adorable as this one! Okay, Light?"

Light frowned, visibly disturbed.

"And.." Misa continued, "This is Romi-kun's big sister, Rowan." Just then, a small red-headed girl popped her head out from behind Misa, rather shyly.

The little baby started to coo and reached out for L, but Misa turned him away. "Shh.. You don't want that pervert to hold you, do you?"

The pervert in question blinked a few times. "Why must you always call me that?"

Light couldn't help but smirk at that. "In any case, why did you bring them here? We are working on the Kira case and we don't have time for this.."

"Awww!! But, Light!" She groaned in dissapointment. "That's why I came to you.. I need to ask you a favor."

Light got a very bad feeling about this, but allowed her to continue.

"I need someone to watch over Romi-kun and Rowan-chan for me today and--"

"No way." Light said without giving her a chance to finish.

"Awwww!! But, Light, it's just for today! My aunt hardly visited me after my parents were killed and--"

"I said no!" Light was getting very aggitated. "Why would you ask me, anyway? I'm working on the most important case of my life. Why can't you get someone else to do it? Like one of your friends."

Misa looked like she was on the verge of tears. "But..But, Light. I can't ask any of my friends to do this.. They are either busy with work or out of town for the weekend. There's no one else I can turn to..!"

Light rolled his eyes and caught the odd look L was giving him. It was practically screaming suspicion.

'Damn! Now it's like I have to...'

"I thought... you loved me, Light.. Please, do this for me.. Just this once, I swear!.." She was about to sob when Light gave up, not bothering to hide a sigh of frustration.

"Fine.." He practically growled under his breath. "I'll do it, but only this one time." He crossed one of his legs over the other.

The blonde girl leapted and gave Light a big hug.. er, at least, she tried to as he was sitting firmly, fumming slightly. "Thank you so much, Light! Soooo much!!"

"Alright! Just get going! I... don't want you to.. be late." He thought that was a good enough excuse to pry her off of his body.

"Yes! You're right." She giggled and handed him the baby. "Take good care of them while I'm away!"

Light was forced to endoure one last kiss before Misa skipped out, dropping a huge baby-bag on the floor next to the door. "Oh! And call me if you need anything! I love you, darling! Bye bye!"

As soon as she left, Light released an even bigger sigh than before. He then looked to the baby in his arms.

It was blonde-ish, had green eyes and rosy, chubby cheeks. It actually looked rather cute, but Light was too ticked to care much at the moment. He frowned at it and, in turn, made Romi start to cry. It was a small sound at first, then quickly grew to resemble a siren going off.

"Ergh..." Light winced at the sound, turning to L, who looked just as confused as he did.

"Why is he crying?" The eccentric detective asked over the noise.

"I don't know, but it has to stop!" Light tried petting it's back, but it didn't work.

"Perhaps you should see what he wants?" L thought out loud.

"Oh, yeah.. Grand idea. Hold on and let me ask it." Came the sarcastic reply.

"I don't think--"

"Yeah, you don't think sometimes, do you?" Light snapped at him.

"..."

Getting desperate, Light bounced Romi up and down. But, nothing he did made him stop his wailing. If anything, it made the little baby more aggitated.

L saw this, but didn't know if he should point it out to the younger man or not. He didn't have the chance to comtemplate it for long as Light forced L to hold Romi instead.

As soon as L got a good grip on him, Romi stopped crying. L had remembered how Misa had held the baby before and tried to do the same; carefully holding his head up with one arm while wrapping the other around Romi gently.

Light was very surprised.

'How did he know..?' He thought to himself.

But, the important thing was that Romi had quieted down. The little boy even looked... happy. It cooed again, smiling up at L. L cracked a small, strange smile back and leaned in closer to Romi, curiously. As soon as it was within reach, the 2-foot-long bundle of joy grabbed the detective's slightly pointy hair, tugging on it. L winced a bit, but predicted that if he pulled away, the chances that Romi would begin crying again were over 80 percent.

Light was now pondering why this had to happen. Now, of all times.

'Misa is so going to--' His thoughts were cut off by a soft voice.

"Light-kun..?" L asked, still looking down at Romi.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think he is thinking right now?"

"What? The kid?" Light looked at it too.

It's face was a little screwed up, like it was concentrating hard on something.

"How would I have any clue to what it's thinking?"

There was a small grunt and the tension in Romi's face vanished swiftly.

"Huh?"

But, the two boy's soon realized what happened.

"I suppose..." L started, holding his nose with his thumb and index finger. "He just used the 'bathroom'?"

"Yeah.. I know that now.." A look of disgust graced Light's face.

"Shouldn't we..?"

"No way." There was no way he, Kira, future God of the new world, was going to change a diaper.

"Light-kun." L looked very serious. "I cannot do this by myself. I don't know how."

Light's brain clicked when he heard this. 'He can't do it because he doesn't know how... He probably knows less about children than I do..'

Feeling suddenly superior, Light took the baby bag Misa had left, dragging L along by the chain that connected them. To his surprise, the bag was very heavy.

"What the hell is in here?" He half dragged it to the nearest table and unzipped it. His eyes grew wide. There were so many things inside (some of which he couldn't even reconize). Bottles, pacifers, baby body rub, lotion, baby spray, baby vitamins, baby snacks galore, and the list goes on.

L took a peek at the contents and was even more surprised. "Do babies really need all these things?"

"I'd hope not.." Light decided to look for anything that resembled diapers.

It took a while, but finally - after removing over half the items in the bag - he found what he was looking for. "Alright. I even found wipes and baby powder."

With a nod, L gently sat the baby down and watched as Light slowly did the deed. It was almost painfully obvious that Light was trying very hard to keep his expression blank, maybe to impress L with his awesome diapers-changing skills.

Just as Light was strapping on the other side of the new diaper onto Romi, L spoke up. "Light-kun...?"

"Yeah?" Light grinned, knowing he would now hear praise from the detective.

"Didn't Misa leave two children in our care?" L glanced around, his finger finding it's way to his mouth. "Where is the other?"

Light frowned at took a look around the room. Romi's sister was nowhere to be seen. 'Shit...'

"Light-kun, don't worry. I can--"

"Oh, no you don't!" Light cut him off, "I'll go look for it. You watch the baby." He glanced over and saw that the door that leads outside of the room to the rest of the rooms was slightly ajar. "Damn.." He started quickly towards it.

"But, Light-kun, I could simply--"

"No!" Light blew off whatever L was trying to suggest, losing his usual cool. So, L just let him be. He unlocked their chain.

After Light had left to search for Rowan, L turned to one of the many screens in the room. "Watari."

Shortly, the aged man's voice replied, "Yes, Ryuzaki?"

"Watari, could you please locate Rowan-chan?"

"Yes, Already on it."

"Thank you."

"Will that be all?"

"Yes.. No, actually.." L climbed up onto his chair, thinking. "Could you bring something sweet here? For the children, of course.. And, keep all the rest of our cameras on Light-kun, please."

Watari stifled a chuckle "Yes, of course." And, then there was a small 'click' which signaled Watari's leave from their connection.

A little while later, Watari came into the main control room, Rowan in his arms.

"Here you are, Ryuzaki." He let the little girl go and she gently slid off his arm and to her feet on the floor. "She had just wandered to one of the broom closets. No harm done."

Watari gently smiled to Rowan and she looked away quickly.

L nodded his understanding, watching intently as Watari placed some sweets onto a nearby coffee table.

"Oh.. By the way. Light-kun--"

"Yes, I know, Ryuzaki. He hasn't left the building. I can assure you that he will be back here soon."

L nodded again, vaguely wondering why even Watari was cutting off his sentences today, but then Watari's gently voice came again.

"You don't miss Light Yagami that much already, do you? He's only been gone less than thirty minutes." He couldn't keep a warm smile from curling his lips, giving his face even more wrinkles.

L made a rarely used puzzled face, but stayed silent. 'Hmm..' He didn't have much time to seriously ponder this, as Light had returned and Watari made his leave swiftly from the room.

"Ryuzaki..." Light wore the look of death upon his face, slowly making his way across the room to L and Rowan. He looked flustered, his shirt half untucked and his hair had become a bit messy. L was sure it was because he had truely been searching hurriedly for the little girl. This made a very large, yet equally awkward smile appear on his face.

"What the?! And, what's so damn funny?"

L didn't reply to him, but handcuffed them back together and slowly turned to Rowan. "There's some sweets on that table. Please, help yourself. Oh, and do you know if your brother can have sweets yet?"

Rowan thought for a moment. "Um.. well, Mommy sometimes let's Romi suck on chocolate..."

L smiled at her, happy that she had finally spoken to him, "Well, just to be careful, I'll find him something else to eat for now." He left the little girl to snack and turned to Light again, who was half angry, half confused by now.

"Light-kun. I need you to look for something for Romi to eat in the bag Misa left."

The brown-haired genius broke out of his simmer and blinked a few times. "Oh.. alright."

'Strange... Somehow I feel as though I just lost...' He searched through the bag again and found a small bag of soften animal crackers. "Here." He opened them up and tried to feed some to the little baby who was curiously watching his big sister eat away at piece of strawberry cake. But, Romi, seeing who exactly was getting closer to him, closed his mouth tightly. Light frowned, 'Come on...' He leaned in even closer and let the cracker poke at Romi's little lips. "Come on, little guy. Don't you like these?"

Romi didn't like the feeling on his mouth so he flung his arm and accidently knocked the offensive dog-shaped cracker to the ground. He was now making little grunts and L tilted his head to get a better look around Light to see what had happened. "Light-kun, what's seems to be the--"

"Oh.. Nothing, really." Light had to keep from losing his cool again. "It's just that Romi doesn't seem to want to eat these."

L got up and, avoiding the fallen animal cracker that lie on the floor, went over to them.

As soon as Romi saw L coming, he opened his mouth wide again and smiled.

"Are you sure, Light-kun?"

"Yeah, he hit the damn thing away when I tried to feed him."

L opened his hand and gestured to the bag. Light gave it to him and L took out a elephant-shaped piece, holding it to Romi, who gobbled it up rather quickly.

"See. It's alright."

Light frowned more and looked down at his hands. L glanced over at him and made another awkward smile. "Maybe you just forgot to wash your hands or something."

"..." Light gritted his teeth.

"That's not it?" L pressed on. "Want me to check for you?" Without waiting for an anwser, he took Light's hand in his, bringing it to his nose. To Light's biggest surprise, though, L let his lips brush against the other boy's fingers as he breathed in. Light was totally entranced by this.

When L finally pulled away and let Light's hand go, he had the biggest grin on his face.

"Your hand smells simply awful."

Light couldn't respond right away, but when he was finally able to he found that his brain couldn't create a word for him to express himself with at that moment.

He could only think about walking away, but as soon as he began to, there was a loud 'crunch' noise comming from his foot.

Light decided then and there that he hated animal crackers.

((End//Chpt.1))


	2. Chapter 2

Mr. Mom Complex // Chapter 2

Series: Death Note

Pairing: Raito(Light)/L

Status: WIP

Content: m/m (boys love), slight crack humour (?) T

Takes place sometime that L and Light were handcuffed together. 3

Disclaimer: Death Note and it's characters are (c) Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The kids are all my doing tho...

* * *

Author's Note: 

Ch. 2 of this fic. I was originally just going to make this a one-shot but that became a 3 parter instead.

I had huge doubts i'd ever finish this, since i rarely finish any of my fics. but, im glad i got this far.

i might want to do a sequel of this sometime, using Romi and Rowan again, so if you like this fic, you might like that too?

thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this fic on and (and where ever else i posted it ; ) Lolz, you guys make me keep on trying and encourage me a lot.

* * *

Mr. Mom Complex

"Goo..." Little Romi held onto L's index finger cheerfully.

The great detective let him tug experimently. _'Better my finger than my hair, I suppose.'_ He mused to himself.

Once Light had calmed down, L had instructed him to read over a list of things Misa had left for him to follow. It was taking quite some time as it was a rather long list. It must have been as thick as an adverage roll of toilet paper.

_'Damn, Misa...She must have been pretty damn confident that I'd agree to this..'_

Light trailed off and angrily looked up from the paper. His attention soon turned to L, who was less than 2 feet next to him on the sofa.

He thought it was a very interesting sight; L playing with a baby. Well, L playing with i anything /i besides his very unhealthy choices in food, that is.

Light couldn't seem to look away.

_ 'L would make a good father...' _

As soon as he processed this thought, Light bit his lip in surprise. _'What the Hell am I thinking..?!' _

Strange thoughts like these were coming to him on a regular basis. Ever since L had told him how he really felt.

_"Light-kun.. I feel as though I could fall in love with someone like yourself." _

It had been almost a week since that night. Light had, at first, blown it off as another "weird thing L had said" to get a rise out of him. Perhaps, to get more of a percentage on his ever-growing "Kira-meter". But.. then again.

_'He had looked so serious when he had said that...His eyes.. '_ Maybe he had imagined it, but Light could have sworn he had seen L's eyes convey worry that night.

Light had secretly played L's words over and over in his head. At night, when he was allowed some precious sleep from working on the Kira case with L, he'd look over at the sleeping figure only a foot away from him in bed. He would listen to the words in his mind like a record of his most favorite song in the whole world.

A soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Light-kun?"

Light focused his eyes on the other man next to him. "..Yes?"

L turned his face to him, a serious look on his face. "Why are you starring at me as if you want to.. 'jump my bones', I believe is the term."

Light looked horrified for a moment and L used that moment of weakness to his advantage. He scooted closer to Light, so that now they were pressed together; hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder. Light looked even more surprised, but kept to his postion.

"Would you like to hold Romi-kun again, Light-kun?"

"...No. Why?"

"Light-kun doesn't have to always be so.. 'up tight'." Disreguarding Light's answer, L carefully placed the baby into Light's arms. "You should hold him like this.." And L began to show him the proper way to hold a baby.

"I know how to hold him." Light snapped mildly, pulling away from L, showing the detective what he knew.

"Ah. Very good, Light-kun!" L smiled thoughtfully at being able to get Light to hold Romi, _'Your pride is one of your biggest weaknesses, Light Yagami.' _

Light allowed for a smirk to appear on his face and then he realized what had just happened. But, he didn't have time to become angry at L because Romi began to cough.

"Light-kun.."

"Don't worry. I know what to do." Light cut him off and quickly lifted Romi up a bit more so he could pat his back until he stopped coughing. "See?"

L's finger went up to his lips and he looked surprisingly intrigued. "My.. Light-kun, I'm very impressed."

Finally. This time Light really felt as though he had _finally_ 1-uped L.

This was, of course, short-lived.

"Hey..." A small voice called from across the room. "I'm done eating now. I'm ready to play."

L turned to their other guest, Rowan. "Ah, Is that so?"

She nodded and shyly made her way over to the two boys.

"Well, what sorts of things do you like to play?" L asked, smiling lightly as he usually did to be polite.

"Umm.." Rowan gripped her skirt tightly with both hands as she thought. "I like to play hide-and-seek."

"Do you even know how to play that, Ryuzaki?" Light cut in, dryly, smirking at L.

"Of course I do." L's expression became blank again and he stood up, making Light stand up too.

"Ah..! You mean we are going to play now?" Light asked, more to L than to the little girl.

"Yes! Can't we, please?" Rowan asked, innocently.

"Of course we can. Light was entrusted to be your caretaker this evening, so he would be more than happy to play with you, Rowan-chan. Right, Light-kun?"

Light frowned, cursing inwardly. "Sure..."

"Oh! Um.." Rowan turned to L. "Will.. _you_ be playing with Uncle Light and me?"

L's eyes widen slightly at her request. "Me?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"If that's what you wish, I'll play with you too." L agreed. "But, you may call me "Ryuzaki". Not "sir". Alright?"

"Yay, okay!!" She giggled loudly. "Ryu..zaki.. Uncle Ryuzaki!"

L nodded his approval and she jumped up to hug him, to L's even greater surprise. Not knowing what else to do, L patted her head lightly, letting an awkward smile grace his lips.

Light, finding the extremely amusing, if not "cute", stood there watching. "So.. _'Uncle Ryuzaki'_, who will be _'It' _?"

"_'It'_ ?" L repeated after Rowan left him go.

"Yeah. Who will be the one who 'seeks'?"

Rowan raised her hand "I know! I know! I want Uncle Light to be _'It'_!"

Light had no choice but to agree to the terms.

"Light-kun, if you are seeking, then I will also have to seek." L lifted his right wrist, the jingleing sound of the chain of the handcuffs reminding him that they were connected.

"Okay! So.. I will hide," Rowan pointed to herself. "And you two will try to find me."

Light rolled his eyes slightly.

"But, please only hide somewhere in this room." L said.

"Aww! But.. Then, it will be easy for you to find me." She looked dissapointed.

L's thumb found his mouth again and he nibbled on it for a moment, "Then, only go two rooms away from this one. Watari will be watching you and will be allowed to cancel the game and bring you back here if necessary."

Rowan innocently nodded her understanding then began to walk to the door, but stopped abruptly turning back to them. "Hey, you guys have to close your eyes! For a whole minute. That's cheating.."

"Oh. Excuse me." L covered his eyes with his left hand. Light just looked back at Rowan.

"You two, Uncle Light..."

"I won't look." Light said flatly, turning his back to her.

Only pausing for a second, Rowan took off to find herself a proper hiding spot.

"Do we start counting now, Light-kun?"

Light looked over at him and couldn't hold back a small chuckle. "Yes, start now. But, you don't really have to cover your eyes like that."

L didn't waver. "Isn't that a rule of the game, Light-kun?"

"Yes, but we aren't--"

"Then, I'm going to follow that rule."

"Ryuzaki.."

"38... 39... 40... 41..."

Light looked away as L counted to 60. When he was finished he uncovered his eye sight and looked around. "Now, we go search for her, Light-kun."

"I already did that once today. I'm in no hurry to do it again. With _you_, no less."

"Is there something wrong with me?"

Light opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it.

There was that look again. L's eyes betrayed him.

"Listen, Ryuzaki.."

L waited for a moment, but when Light didn't say anymore, he tugged on their chain. "Let's find Rowan-chan. We shouldn't keep her waiting."

Light silently obeyed.

They looked for Rowan in awkward silence until their search turned up empty.

"She certainly is taking this game seriously.." Light broke the heavy sound of quiet between them first.

"Yes.." L ducked his head slightly under the last of the computer desks against the wall of the second room.

Light's arms were getting a little tired from holding a, now sleeping, Romi. He thanked whoever might be up there that Romi was asleep. He did_ not_ feel like carrying a crying baby around.

"Light-kun.. You can let me carry Romi-kun for a while if you want." As if L had read his mind, he asked this in a some-what caring tone.

Light shook his head a "No" and adjusted the baby in his arms a bit. "You know that she probably wondered off. It's unlikely that she just kept to these 3 rooms."

"No.. I doubt that. Watari would have acted then." L pulled Light back to the door that lead to the first room.

"What now?"

"We will simply go back to the beginning and start searching anew."

Light frowned, but didn't say anything until they reached the second room again without finding her.

"I think this is childish. You can't keep starting over. Looking in the same places over and over again. You need to stop and think."

"She could only go to these 3 main rooms so, there must be a place we missed.. If I can't narrow down my search anymore and with the possibility that she can move for place to place without us knowing, I have no choice but to keep searching like this. Unless..."

Light looked at him, "Yes?"

L's gaze hit Light hard. "Unless I could have some assistance."

Was L asking Light for help? Or, was this another trick? Light could have cursed himself for being so out-of-character, just because of these kids.. Or, was it really because of them? Could it be..?

_'No.. I admit that L has distracted me before with his strange behavior, but..'_ He stole a glance at the great detective, L, who was looking around shelves and tables for the third time, dragging him along idly. He admitted that he thought L wasn't.._ bad_ looking. Hell, you could say he looked down right _sexy_ in his own, strange way. And, even though he had accused Light on many occasions of being a mass murderer, L was very bright and.. in some twisted way, Light felt as though he could count on him. Light could always count on L to be a good at matching him. Could always count on him to put up a good fight whenever challenged. And why in Hell was he thinking about this now?

"Light-kun.. Why are you starring at my _rear_ instead of assisting me in my search? Last time I checked, _you_ are playing this game too, am I right?"

Light hadn't noticed he had been starring at L's ass the whole time he had been thinking. His features were once more taken by ones of horror, more from L noticing than from what he had been doing.

Before Light could even begin to defend himself, there was a small "thump" coming from the other room.

"What was--" Light started to ask, but L cut him off by grabbing his mouth with one hand.

"Shh.. Light-kun." L whispered and Light figured out what he meant.

They crept through to the next room, Light behind L, with Romi snug in one arm. At first glance, there was not another living soul inside, but they were sure of what they had heard. Both boys exchanged looks then Light walked in snyc with L to the small china cabnet. L's pale fingers wrapped around the silver handle of the door and with a last signal from the boy standing next to him, he pulled the door open swiftly.

No one was there.

"What the..?" Light frowned, visibly confused. The baby started to stir in his arms, making small noises, as if it were uncomfortable.

L sighed. "Yes, my sentiments exactly, Light-kun." He turned to him and carefully took Romi from Light. "Here, I'll take Romi-kun and start looking over again. I know you must be tired of playing."

Just then, the cabnet shook and a box that was on the top started to fall. Light saw this and quickly grapped L, pushing him to the side, out of the way of the box's path. Romi was safely inbetween their chests as Light was ontop of L, sheilding them both from harm. But, in turn, Light was pelted with...

"Candy..?" Light opened his eyes, expecting to be crushed. Instead he saw hundreds small pieces of candy scattered about the floor.

"Rowan-chan...!" L said looking up, rather shaken up by what just happened.

Light looked up too and saw that Rowan was up on top of the china cabnet, behind where the box had fallen from.

"I'm... I'm sorry.." Rowan was just as shocked as they were.

Light turned to L, making sure him and Romi where alright. Romi had started crying but L tended to him, petting him motherly on the back. Getting up and walking to the cabnet, Light raised his arms and motioned for Rowan climb down into them. She did so, only hesitating for a moment and Light brought her down to safely. His face became very grave and made Rowan's eyes sink down to look at the floor; she knew what was coming next.

"What in the world were you thinking?!" Light's voice was very stern and his arms were up, moving in tune with his tone. "You could have seriously hurt me or Ryuzaki or even your little brother! Is that what you want? Is winning a game worth risking something like that?!" Light's mind stopped at that. He suddenly felt bad. _'Ha.. Who am I to say such a thing?'_

Rowan couldn't even reply. She was very near the verge of tears, keeping her head down, clutching her clothes for support.

"No.. Listen," Light's angry glint in his eyes was replaced by a more gently one. "I know you never meant to hurt anyone, but at your age, it's important to learn to think. Think ahead before doing things. What you did was very dangerous. Even _you_ could have been hurt. I don't want that and I'm sure your family doesn't want that either.." Light placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, reassuring her.

Rowan gave a few sniffs and looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. "I-I.. "

Light added one more thing. "You want to protect your little brother, right? I have a younger sister who I care for, too."

This seemed to do the trick, and Rowan understood. She nodded a "Yes" and Light nodded back.

L had stood up after Light's lecture and Light turned to look at him. There was something different about the look in L's eyes now. The younger man couldn't quite place it, though. It wasn't at all like the one he saw from _that_ night..

L smiled. It was the closest one Light's seen to a _real_ smile. "I must thank you."

"..For what?" Light found himself asking. But, of course, that was a stupid question. _'He **must** be thanking me for pushing him out of the way.'_

"'For what'? For finding my box of chocolate candy, of course." L passed Light and walked to Rowan. "Thank you very much for finding it, Rowan-chan. Watari was trying, in vain, to stop me from eating so much sweets in case it was affecting my health more than perviously predicted. I'm glad they are found now." L picked one up and unwrapped it from it's foil prison, "Care to try one? They are some of the most exceptional candies I've come across as of late." Rowan took it with a smile and popped it into her mouth.

Light was just about to object when L looked to him, "Light-kun, would you please help me collect them and place them back into the box?"

Light's fingers found their way to his forehead and he frowned.

"Oh, Light-kun. Do you have a headache now?" L hunched down in front of him, half smirking.

"No.."

"That's good. I'd dislike it greatly if you had been injured while you had so bravely tried to save me earlier." L kept his smile as he started towards the door with Romi, beckoning Rowan to follow.

Light's eyes snapped open and he went after them. "Hey.. Let's get one thing clear. I was trying to save the baby, not _you_.."

L turned his head, "Oh, is that so?" And he kept walking.

"Ah, no!.. Ryuzaki.." Light could feel a _real_ headache start to come on. "Can't I have tried to save.. _both_ of you..?"

L didn't respond until they were to reach the main control room again. He made certain Light didn't see the small blush that was forming on his cheeks the whole way there.

_((End//Chpt.2))_


End file.
